Unlock the Editor’s Digest totally free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favorite tales on this weekly publication.
EU leaders from throughout the continent’s political spectrum voiced assist for Ursula von der Leyen to win a second five-year time period as president of the European Fee on Monday night.
The heads of the EU’s 27 member states will use a non-public dinner in Brussels to provide political backing to von der Leyen remaining in workplace, diplomats and officers stated, forward of a proper rubber-stamping later this month.
“I’m completely sure that we can attain settlement inside a really quick time,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated as he arrived on the dinner, describing an extension for von der Leyen as a “wise answer”.
“It can be crucial for choices to be made rapidly . . . as a result of we live in tough occasions,” he added.
EU capitals are poised to decide on continuity over change amid the battle in Ukraine, tensions with China and political uncertainty in a few of the bloc’s key member states.
One EU diplomat who has spent the previous week in discussions with key capitals about von der Leyen stated: “No one is discussing another consequence . . . For [von der Leyen], the die is solid.”
Von der Leyen would then have to win a majority within the newly elected European parliament to stay because the EU’s strongest official by means of to 2029, operating the bloc’s govt department with the duty of regulating the world’s largest single market, proposing new laws and steering the continent’s coverage route.
Her supporters are quietly assured of securing parliament’s assent, given the victory of her centre-right European Individuals’s Celebration (EPP) within the EU elections this month, and the bulk held by centrist events within the chamber regardless of a surge in assist for the far proper.
Leaders from the EPP and their political rivals voiced assist for von der Leyen’s candidacy, and virtually all stated they anticipated a fast determination.
Mark Rutte, Liberal prime minister of the Netherlands, stated von der Leyen had performed “an extremely good job”, steering the EU by means of the Covid-19 pandemic and the bloc’s response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
However she has irked some capitals and lots of in her personal fee along with her centralised decision-making and a report of pushing the boundaries of her institutional powers.
Her marketing campaign pressured the worth of stability, and performed up the hazards of a change in management given the Ukraine battle and the uncertainty within the US-EU relationship that may outcome from a potential Donald Trump victory in US presidential elections in November.
Her supporters have strengthened that message within the gentle of the political chaos unleashed in France by President Emmanuel Macron’s determination to name snap parliamentary elections — a transfer that startled EU allies who fear in regards to the future affect of the far-right in Paris.
Monday’s personal dinner may also function discussions about who to pick out for president of the EU Council — the official who chairs conferences of the bloc’s leaders — and for prime consultant, its chief diplomat.
Officers stated Portugal’s former premier António Costa was the clear frontrunner for the previous, succeeding Charles Michel, whereas Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was the most probably alternative for the latter, taking up from Josep Borrell.
Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen, seen as essentially the most distinguished various to Costa, advised reporters as she arrived on the Monday dinner that she was “not a candidate”.
Von der Leyen, a former German defence minister who was an unheralded alternative for the publish of European Fee president in 2019, acquired a lift final week from the bloc’s three strongest member states — France, Germany and Italy — providing their tacit acceptance at a G7 summit.
Following the summit on Italy’s Apulian coast, Macron stated he believed a deal can be struck at Monday’s dinner, whereas Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated she believed the EPP had the suitable “to suggest a fee president”.
The personal dinner has been organized as a prelude to a proper summit on June 27 and 28 at which a ultimate settlement is due. The European parliament vote on the following fee president is ready for the week of July 15.
“Everybody desires to make use of [Monday] evening to ship a crystal clear message . . . so there’s little doubt over what the ultimate determination shall be,” stated an EU diplomat concerned within the negotiations.
Further reporting by Paola Tamma and Daria Mosolova
